Healing, Growth, and Purpose: Becoming a Peer Specialist

• By: Patricia Masi Peer Specialist
• April 21st, 2026
• anxiety, art therapy, breast cancer, lived experience, mental health recovery, peer specialist, peer support, postpartum depression, Spring 2026 Issue
• 40    0

On January 14, 1980 (my birthday) I sat at a drafting board at Island Drafting and Technical Institute in Amityville, New York, beginning my journey as a mechanical draftsperson. One thousand hours later, I earned my certification and was placed through the school's employment services at an...

Stand Up for Mental Health: Comedy that Gets Respect!

• By: Carl Alan Blumenthal, MS, MA, NYCPS (retired) Peer Specialist
• January 22nd, 2024
• diversity, mental health advocacy, mental health comedy, recovery, self-deprecating humor, self-respect, stand up for mental health, stigma, therapeutic laughter, Winter 2024 Issue
• 3545    0

While performing comedy at hotels in the Catskill Mountains of New York, Rodney Dangerfield first complained in the 1960s, “I don’t get no respect.” Born “Jacob Rodney Cohen,” he was one of many Jewish comedians, such as Jackie Mason, George Burns, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, and Sid Caesar,...